Just released from the FGDC...  a look back at 2008

From the FGDC Chair... I am pleased to announce the release of the Federal Geographic Data Committee’s (FGDC) 2008 Annual Report, which highlights some of the year’s exciting activities across the geospatial land­scape. The theme for this year’s report is how geospatial data provide critical support for wildfire response.

FGDC Highlights of 2008:


1. Geospatial Line of Business - The participants in the Geospatial Line of Business (Geospatial LoB) initiative developed a strategic plan for achieving key goals and deliverables for the initiative and for the FGDC overall. The milestones and tasks within the strategic plan reflect a bottom-up analysis by each of the six Geospatial LoB work groups.

2. National Geospatial Advisory Committee - In January 2008, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne named 28 individuals to serve on the new National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The NGAC was established to provide advice and recommendations on Federal geospatial policy and management issues and to provide a forum to convey views representative of partners in the geospatial community.

3. Fifty States Initiative 2008 - This year marks the third year of the Fifty States Initiative. The primary focus of the Fifty States Initiative is the development of strategic and business plans for geospatial coordination statewide. As of September 2008, 17 States had finished developing their plans and several additional States had plans that were nearly completed.

4. International Activities - The FGDC continues to work closely with the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) organization. This year, the FGDC helped organize and conduct the GSDI–10 conference held in Trinidad and Tobago in February 2008 and supported this year’s GSDI Small Grants Program. Responsibility for regional GSDI newsletters was transferred to the respective regions, which was a significant milestone.

5. Geospatial One-Stop - The Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) portal is the official means for accessing metadata resources managed in the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Clearinghouse Network. Metadata held by Federal, State, Tribal, and local entities, and by academic and nonprofit organizations, and the private sector are published through the Clearinghouse Network at www.geodata.gov.

6. Standards - Standards are critical to the development, sharing, and use of geospatial data. The FGDC develops geospatial data standards for implementing the NSDI, in consultation and cooperation with State, Tribal, and local governments; academic institutions; the private sector; and, to the extent feasible, the international community.

7. Imagery for the Nation - The goal of the IFTN program is that “the Nation will have a sustainable and flexible digital imagery program that meets the needs of local, State, regional, Tribal and Federal agencies.” The IFTN is being designed as a Federal program conducted in partnership with State and local governments.

8. New Executive Committee - In fiscal year 2008, the FGDC Executive Committee was established as a component of the FGDC Steering Committee. The Executive Committee was organized to facilitate action on key activities such as Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) initiative.

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